


The Vision

by AskHisDisciple (PisceanQueen)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-22
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-12-06 03:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PisceanQueen/pseuds/AskHisDisciple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't easy telling those you care about that you're going to die someday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Vision

The night was dark without the moons. The only light in the forest to be found aside from the myriad of stars was from the campfire lit in a small clearing hidden well between the trees. Four companions rested there after a long journey with the prospect of even more travelling before them.

“Oh, so that’s how you do it?” Leijon tilted her head as she watched Captor float a stick before her. Her green eyes were wide and fixated.

“Yeah, you just think about it and it happens. At first, it’s a little strange. Learning how to use your powers at first is never easy as a psionic, it’s pretty much akin to torture, but after a while it’s second nature,” he explained, looking at her and taking in her fascination.

“And you said the Academy put you at the top of the class?” she asked, batting at the stick with a claw, eyes still staring intently at it.

Captor felt a flush to his cheeks and looked towards the fire.

“Something like that.”

Across from the two of them Vantas and his guardian, Mother Maryam, were quietly talking. Captor wondered if it was about the vision he had. It had to be. Mother Maryam had been inconsolable for a few days now and Vantas had kept him and Leijon away. Right now she was nodding to whatever he was saying to her, her eyes downcast. The Signless knelt to kiss The Dolorosa on the top of her head and looked towards his friend, giving him a loaded look.

“I wonder why ochrebloods are so pawerful?” Leijon continued, a smile curved on her lips.

Captor turned back to the girl, shrugging the question away with unease, “Why does any caste do what they do? We’ll never really know.”

Vantas crossed over to the other side of the fire and sat beside Leijon. Her fascinaton with the stick was immediately forgotten as she pecked him on the cheek with much affection. She pointed to the stick again and Vantas nodded. His smile was strained, Captor could tell. There was a sinking feeling in his chest.

“My treasure, I must talk with you. Will you walk with me?” came the eventual question.

Leijon looked to her matesprit and brightened, “Of course!”

She stood, dusted off her leggings, and looked down at Captor, “Thanks for humoring me, Catpurr. Sorry I was so curious about it. I’ve wanted to ask for ages!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Captor said, dreading the conversation he knew his best friend was about to have with her, “ask me any time.”

The Signless nodded to him, then put his arms around Leijon’s shoulders, leading her off into the woods.

The light of the fire faded and soon there was only starlight. The two lovers walked in silence, Leijon taking the lead and looking about, her keen eyesight on the lookout for any danger. Before long she turned to face him, her expression apparent even in the dark.

“So,” she started, her gaze turning sly, a smile creeping onto her face once more, “Alone, huh? I see what you wanted to ‘talk’ about!”

Vantas chuckled but shook his head, “No, my love, that is not what I brought you out here for.”

She tilted her head again, “Then what?”

“It’s about… a vision. That Captor had…”

Leijon scrunched up her face, “Vision? Like the ones you have?”

He shook his head once more, “Not like that… Captor’s visions are… well. They are omens. Things that will transpire… in this world. Not Beforus.”

“Catpurr sees the future?” she exclaimed, suddenly delighted, “I didn’t know he could do that!”

Vantas did not smile to share in her joy and that threw her off. The mood had been changed without warning.

“He saw something over a week ago… and he told me about it. So I wish to tell you. You deserve to know.”

“Why?” she breathed, on edge, “What did he see? Is… that why Mother Maryam was crying?”

The Signless turned away from his Disciple for a moment to look up through the trees. The few stars he could see offered no comfort to him and he eventually looked at Leijon again.

“This journey we are on. The road we all walk together. The sea that we sail… it will all end in blood one day. I will be culled by the Empress for treason.”

His matesprit stood there and stared at him for many moments. Leijon didn’t move; didn’t breathe. She did not even shed a tear, which confused him. He couldn’t gauge her reaction.

“But… No. He’s wrong. You can’t die,” she said, her voice breaking.

It was denial.

“My love, he can see the future. What he sees will eventually come to pass. He’s done it bef--”

“HE IS WRONG!” she shouted, and several night birds alighted from their trees.

Quickly he took her into his arms, crushing her to his chest, and that is when her tears began; great anguished cries that stabbed him deep within.

“It can’t be true. You can’t die! You can’t leave us!”

Vantas didn’t try to correct her, only comfort her, his hands smoothing her wild hair. He waited until she calmed before he tried to explain.

It took quite a while for her to relax; the streaks of pale olive down her cheeks still indicated her distress. They sat beneath a tree and he kept her in his embrace, wrapping his tattered cloak about them both to shield them from the night air. He kissed her horns with deep affection, trying to calm her.

“I had expected this, to be honest,” Vantas spoke, “ever since I started seeing my visions of the other world I knew that if I spoke about it I would end up in great trouble one day.”

“Then why? Why did you have to speak about it at all?” Leijon protested.

“If I had not… would Mother and I have traveled Alternia together? And even if we had, would I have spoken to anyone? Would I have met those trolls in the crowds who needed my help? The comfort of my words? Would I have even met you? Or Captor?”

The thought struck her, “No… I suppose you wouldn’t have.”

“Meeting you has made all this so very worth it. I have no regrets because of it. That’s why I’m willing to accept this vision as my destiny.”

“But… we know the future now so… can’t we change it? Can’t you just stop visiting all these villages? We can get a hive together and we wouldn’t have to worry about being culled!”

“You might not, but I am an outcast. My eyes alone betray me.”

Leijon looked up at him, her expression pleading, “Then I’d take care of you! You’d want for nothing!”

“My love that is not the life I was meant to live and you know that. I was meant to bring equality across the hemospectrum. I am meant to bring everyone together for the common good. The path I walk is the right one and I have always known this, even before Captor’s vision.”

“But…!”

Vantas continued without looking down at her, “I need to know if you’re still willing to walk with me despite this.”

There was no room for bargaining in his voice. It was clear he had made his decision long before.

“Of… course I will walk with you. Are you crazy?” she scoffed, though she might have been holding back another sob.

“If you do, I promise you we’ll find some happiness along the way. We’ll bring goodwill to all those trolls who deserve it. We’ll teach the world that the hemospectrum isn’t something to define ourselves by. We’ll be able to do some good with the time that we have left. And through that we’ll be happy.”

“...How long will it be?”

“How long?”

“Until…”

“Sweeps from now, Captor says. But it will eventually happen.”

“I see.”

“And I must ask something of you, my love; something most important.”

Leijon looked up at her matesprit.

“When I die you must take my teachings and keep them safe. Those journals you keep… you must hide them from those who would destroy them. After I die you must run far away from the subjuggulators and the threshecutioners; to a place where no one can find you for sweeps. The world must not forget our message of peace and equality. You could be the only person keeping this dream and my visions alive for future generations.”

“Me?”

“Can you do that for me?” Vantas looked down at her, and he smiled. His eyes were filled with adoration.

“Y-yes, but…”

“Then that is all I ask of you.”

The two did not speak long after that. Leijon was still taking it all in. She curled up closer to her lover and leaned her forehead on his shoulder. He was warm, she thought to herself, filled with that unusual multi-quadrant affection their species wasn’t known for. And it was affection for not just her, she realized, but all of their people.

Vantas was still alive. It would be sweeps before she’d have to worry about losing him. They had time, she reminded herself. They wouldn’t live their life in fear of the unknown. All of them could enjoy the time they had left together. The ending of the story wasn’t as important as the events preceding it. Leijon had to remind herself of that.

After a while in each other's company the two returned to the fire as the night had gotten much colder.

The eyes of The Dolorosa met those of The Disciple and the two of them shared an instant understanding. Leijon crossed the campsite to sit with her and embraced her fondly. The two of them wept together. The oliveblood glanced over at Captor not long after and he looked away, guilt and an apology in his eyes. She knew it wasn’t his fault, deep within, but at the time she had wished he’d never shared that vision with her Beloved. Ignorance was happiness. Wasn't it?

The two women eventually fell asleep leaning against one another. Vantas watched them a moment before turning to Captor.

Vantas spoke, gaze lowered, “My friend, I am sorry.”

“I can’t help what I saw. If I could…”

“No. You can’t. Nor can I. We are both burdened in this way.”

“They must hate me now,” Captor looked at the stick in the dirt he had floated just hours past, “Leijon will never speak to me again, much less Mother Maryam.”

Vantas put his hand on his friend’s broad shoulder, “They hate the reality of what will happen, yes, but you are free from fault. They care for you just as I do. More so than you think.”

After a long pause The Psiionic looked to his closest friend, “What do we do from here?”

“We survive, as we always have. There is no use in fretting about the future when the present is right there in front of you. You and I will walk this difficult road together. We’ll help those who need it. And… we will suffer in the end for it.”

“You’re fine with it?”

Vantas nodded.

“It is what must be.”

Captor stared as his companion for many moments, quelling his emotions as he was so used to doing, but The Signless only looked at the stars and took no notice, a serene smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this. This is my fourth Homestuck piece. Please let me know if you enjoyed it. I kinda belted it out at 6am in the morning when I got a bunch of f33ls. You know how that is. :)
> 
> I'm the mod from [AskHisDisciple](http://askhisdisciple.tumblr.com) so drop me a line if you want! ♥


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